why does your body get achy when you are sick?
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None of the top comments (at the moment of posting this) are correct.
The achy feeling is caused three things:
– General inflammation. The immune system uses inflammation basically as a way of communicating to itself and other body systems “Send resources here to help me fight the infection”. This inflammation itself causes pain, and sometimes it can spill over into areas of the body that aren’t in need of special attention. There’s a theory that this muscle and joint ‘spill-over’ inflammation pain is ‘intentional’ by evolution, because it causes us to be less active, which helps with recovery (rest), but this hasn’t been proven.
– Toxic activities by the immune system. In some places, the immune system (white blood cells) are actually killing other cells that have become infected. The chemicals used to send these “kill” messages can also have a ‘spill-over’ into other areas of the body, causing pain. This is not a major part of sickness aches, though.
– Swollen lymph nodes. Your body is covered in hundreds of lymph nodes connected by a separate circulation network. When you are fighting an infection, one part of your immune system is trying to basically catch (eat) infected cells and pathogens and then bring them to lymph nodes where that can be broken down and/or shuttled away as waste. During this time, your lymph nodes swell with fluide and also experience some inflammation which helps get resources to them so they can work more effectively.
Hope that helps.
None of the top comments (at the moment of posting this) are correct.
The achy feeling is caused three things:
– General inflammation. The immune system uses inflammation basically as a way of communicating to itself and other body systems “Send resources here to help me fight the infection”. This inflammation itself causes pain, and sometimes it can spill over into areas of the body that aren’t in need of special attention. There’s a theory that this muscle and joint ‘spill-over’ inflammation pain is ‘intentional’ by evolution, because it causes us to be less active, which helps with recovery (rest), but this hasn’t been proven.
– Toxic activities by the immune system. In some places, the immune system (white blood cells) are actually killing other cells that have become infected. The chemicals used to send these “kill” messages can also have a ‘spill-over’ into other areas of the body, causing pain. This is not a major part of sickness aches, though.
– Swollen lymph nodes. Your body is covered in hundreds of lymph nodes connected by a separate circulation network. When you are fighting an infection, one part of your immune system is trying to basically catch (eat) infected cells and pathogens and then bring them to lymph nodes where that can be broken down and/or shuttled away as waste. During this time, your lymph nodes swell with fluide and also experience some inflammation which helps get resources to them so they can work more effectively.
Hope that helps.
its part of the inflammatory response, it releases this funky hormonla compound we call Cortisol that among other things causes that feeling.
its effectively the body giving you the hint to ” sit the fck down and rest”(as that makes you more likely ot recover and if you cannot recover makes you less likely to end up isolated and not infect your fellow cave dwellers)
The molecule interferon-alpha in particular is the biggest reason for this. Before we had specific inhibitors for Hepatitis C, interferon-alpha treatment was a key part of it and the achy feeling was a well documented side effect.
its part of the inflammatory response, it releases this funky hormonla compound we call Cortisol that among other things causes that feeling.
its effectively the body giving you the hint to ” sit the fck down and rest”(as that makes you more likely ot recover and if you cannot recover makes you less likely to end up isolated and not infect your fellow cave dwellers)
its part of the inflammatory response, it releases this funky hormonla compound we call Cortisol that among other things causes that feeling.
its effectively the body giving you the hint to ” sit the fck down and rest”(as that makes you more likely ot recover and if you cannot recover makes you less likely to end up isolated and not infect your fellow cave dwellers)
The molecule interferon-alpha in particular is the biggest reason for this. Before we had specific inhibitors for Hepatitis C, interferon-alpha treatment was a key part of it and the achy feeling was a well documented side effect.
If you ( or anyone here) would like an in-depth, but very understandable explanation of this, I 100% recommend Kurzgesagt! They make a ton of YouTube videos pertaining to science, technology, psychology, and more. They have a handful of videos explaining the immune system that are just excellent.
The molecule interferon-alpha in particular is the biggest reason for this. Before we had specific inhibitors for Hepatitis C, interferon-alpha treatment was a key part of it and the achy feeling was a well documented side effect.
If you ( or anyone here) would like an in-depth, but very understandable explanation of this, I 100% recommend Kurzgesagt! They make a ton of YouTube videos pertaining to science, technology, psychology, and more. They have a handful of videos explaining the immune system that are just excellent.
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